WAS IT AN AIRSHIP?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 151, 22 July 1909, Page 4

WAS IT AN AIRSHIP?

STRANGE LIGHTS SEEN BY STIRLING RESIDENTS.

A resident oi Stirling whose, veracity wc have always been accustomed to look upon as absolutely unimpeachable called upon us yesterday (reports the Balelttlha Free Press of Tuesday last) with the story of a strange light seen | ill the sky over the Wangaloa hills on Sunday night. He said he Imd been puzzling over the matter and consulting with it few familiars, and the only conclusion he could come to was that Hu light was that of an airship, probably being made the subject of an experimental cruise. Between half-past 10 and 11 on the night stated our informant and two other residents at Stirling were standing in the vicinity of the railway station when they sighted the mysterious

light. •'lt first came into our view Irom tne east," said the narrator, "and wc thought it was a meteor or a falling star, hut the light grew in 'brilliance. It moved ahout the hills above Kaitangata. sometimes swooping down from a height of apparently 2000 ft to about 1000 ft and even lower. Then it would turn ami make away towards the sea, or would dip completely out of sight behind the hills. It seemed to move with as much ease, ami even grace, as a bird on the wing. The light carried was a strong and steady one, and whenever the ship, or whatever it was, turned, we thought we could sec a dark opaque Ibody. Certainly we could see, •without a dmv'ot, the reflection of the iight in the clouds. It was a white light with a reflector, just what would lie

used iby an airship'driven by an electric motor. When she was sideways on we thought we could see the reflection as of a .black body above and below. It nvas a marvellously mystifying sight. After watching it for a good half-hour the ship moved off in an easterly direction, from whence il had first come into view. I left my companions and made oil' home, and" then a peculiar thing happened. I had been walking for ten minutes, and chanced to look skyward, and lo and behold! there was the mys- . tcrious light, high up in the sky and moving off inland in a westerly direction towards the Blue Mountains, as it seemed to me."

Further question on the matter, the informant said he believes some Dunedin man is at work on an airship, and it is quite possible he may have a workshop somewhere in the lonely Wangaloa hills, whoso steep gullies arc traversed only by sheep. The inventor may have come out on Saturday night with some friends for the purpose of a trial run. Perhaps, concludes the Press, some other readers I may he able to throw some light on this mysterious occurrence.